When: Third Thursdays; October 2015 to May 2016 (See specific dates below)
Where: Country Bookshelf, 28 W. Main
Discussion leader: Ariana Paliobagis, owner of the Country Bookshelf and an avid mystery reader, is a Montana native who received both a BA and an MA in English from MSU.
Registration not required: Free to Wonderlust members
Participants must acquire their own books. They are available through Country Bookshelf, other retailers, and possibly your local library.
In this book discussion series we will read classic mystery and detective novels to look at the beginnings of what is currently one of the most popular and widely-read literary genres. We’ll focus on classic and influential British and American authors, those who inspired all the rest. In the first session we’ll read the undisputed first masters, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Then we’ll move on to the greats of the first half of the twentieth century. As you read each month, pay attention to plot, language, style, characters,themes, and the burgeoning development of sub-genre characteristics such as locked- room mysteries, police procedural, amateur sleuths, crime, hard-boiled, noir, and psychological suspense.
Come prepared for lively discussions!
BOOK LIST:
Oct. 15: The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Dupin Tales by Edgar Allan Poe and
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle (Suggested: at least the first three stories.)
Nov. 19: The Moonstone
by Wilkie Collins
Jan. 21: The Leavenworth Case
by Anna Katharine Green
Feb. 18: And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
March 17: Resorting to Murder
Holiday Mysteries
edited by Martin Edwards
April 21: Strong Poison
by Dorothy Sayers
May 19: The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
When my husband and I were looking for our place to retire, one of the places we visited was Bozeman. While we were here we went to the library, where I happened to pick up a Wonderlust brochure. Here was university-quality instruction by experts in a huge number of subjects. No homework, no exams, no papers, just a chance to learn new things or review things we’d already studied. It was also an opportunity to meet people with a wide variety of interests. I was hooked! Over the past several years, I’ve come to feel strongly about supporting this valuable community resource for lifelong learning, and fortunately there’s a community of dedicated volunteers who feel the same way.
